President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell Department of the Interior 1849 C Street, N.W. Washington DC 20240

May 6, 2014

Dear President Obama and Secretary Jewell:

We the undersigned write to urge you to halt proposed seismic airgun testing for oil and gas in the Atlantic Ocean.

Seismic airgun testing is the first step towards deep-water drilling, which would inevitably bring the Atlantic coast one step closer to the same practice that brought us the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster. While proposed seismic airgun testing would span from Delaware to Florida, an oil spill the size of that which flowed from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig would harm sea life, ecosystems, fisheries and coastal economies along the entire East Coast. Furthermore, expanding offshore drilling to the Atlantic will only deepen our dependence on oil and gas, and worsen the impacts of climate change and ocean acidification.

Additionally, the type of seismic airgun testing used to search for oil and gas is incredibly harmful and could injure or possibly kill thousands of marine mammals and fish. Seismic airguns fire intense blasts of compressed air - almost as loud as explosives - every 10-12 seconds, 24 hours a day, for days to weeks at a time. These loud airgun blasts can be heard for many hundreds of miles in the ocean and can drive whales to abandon their habitats, go silent, and cease foraging over vast areas. At shorter distances, airguns can cause permanent hearing loss, injury, and even death for whales, dolphins and fish.

According to the Department of the Interior's own estimates, the use of airguns would injure more than 138,000 marine mammals and disrupt marine mammal feeding, calving, breeding, and other vital activities more than 13.5 million times. These impacts would include unacceptable levels of injuries and disturbances to critically endangered species, like the North Atlantic right whale, of which there are less than 500 whales left.

We cannot put our oceans, beaches, marine resources, and coastal economies at risk. We urge your administration to stop this proposed testing and to focus instead on transitioning to a clean, renewable energy future. Please act to stop this activity from going forward.

Sincerely,

Claire Douglass, Campaign Director Oceana Leah Donahey, Arctic Ocean & Reserve Program Director Alaska Wilderness League

Diane Glim, President American Cetacean Society

Sarah Winter, Director Regional Marine Conservation Project American Littoral Society

Susan Millward, Executive Director Animal Welfare Institute

Mary Tilton, Executive Director Back Bay Restoration Foundation

Matt Thomas, Founder BeCause Water

David Helvarg Executive Director, Blue Frontier

Hardy Jones, Executive Director BlueVoice

Adam Roberts, Chief Executive Officer Born Free USA

Jatnna Garcia, President Environmental Student Organization

Stella Smith, President Carolina Nature Coalition

Miyoko Sakashita, Oceans Director & Senior Attorney Center for Biological Diversity

David Kyler, Executive Director Center for a Sustainable Coast

William W. Rossiter, Executive Director Cetacean Society International

Mike Tidwell, Director Chesapeake Climate Action Network

Lucinda L. Johnston, Executive Director Chart 411

Cecelia Cook, Coordinator Chirping Birds

Timothy Brinson, Founder Citizens against Seismic Airgun Use

Cindy Zipf, Executive Director Clean Ocean Action

Harriet Shugarman, Executive Director Climate Mama

Karla Gunter, Chair Coastal Guardians

Vicki Weeks, Lead Facilitator Coffee Party Savannah

Rav Freidel, Board Member Concerned Citizens of Montauk

Sean Cosgrove, Director of Campaigns Conservation Law Foundation

Stephanie Herron, Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator Delaware

Brenna Goggin, Environmental Advocate Delaware Nature Society

Nancy Azzam, Executive Director Dolphin Connection

Kaela Nye, Co-Chair E3: Ecology, Economy, Equity at UCLA

Trip Van Noppen, President Earthjustice

Brady Bradshaw, Campaign Coordinator Echo Friendly Action

Tara Thornton, Program Director Endangered Species Coalition

Margie Alt, Executive Director Environment America

Bret Fanshaw, Advocate Environment Arizona

Dan Jacobson, Legislative Director Environment California

Kimberly Stevens, Campaign Director Environment Colorado

Chris Phelps, Director Environment Connecticut

Jennifer Rubiello, Field Associate Environment Florida

Jennette Gayer, Director Environment Georgia

Lisa Nikodem, Campaign Director Environment Illinois

Michelle Hesterberg, Federal Field Organizer Environment Iowa

Emily Figdor, Director Environment Maine Joanna Diamond, Campaign Director Environment Maryland

Ben Hellerstein, Field Associate Environment Massachusetts

Samantha Chadwick, Advocate Environment Minnesota

Anneli Berube, Federal Field Organizer Environment Montana Environment Nevada

Madeline Page, Federal Field Associate Environment New Hampshire

Doug O'Malley, Director Environment New Jersey

Sanders Moore, Director Environment New Mexico

Heather Liebowitz, Campaign Director Environment New York

Elizabeth Ouzts, Director Environment North Carolina

Christian Adams, State Associate Environment Ohio

Rikki Seguin, Advocate Environment Oregon

Channing Jones, Campaign Director Environment Rhode Island

Luke Metzger, Director Environment Texas

Sarah Bucci, Campaign Director Environment Virginia

Katrina Rosen, Field Director Environment Washington

Allan Thornton, President Environmental Investigation Agency

Manley Fuller, President Florida Wildlife Federation

Mitch Jones, Common Resources Director Food and Water Watch

Marcie Keever, Oceans & Vessels Program Director Friends of the Earth

Lindsay D'Ambrosio, Coordinator Green Neighbors of DC (Petworth, Brightwood, and Park View)

Jen Wallace, Coordinating Committee Chair Green Party of Delaware

Will Anderson, President Green Vegans / The New Human Ecology

Reverend Fletcher Harper, Executive Director GreenFaith

Phil Kline, Senior Oceans Campaigner

Monica Embrey, North Carolina Organizer Greenpeace - North Carolina

Cynthia Sartou, Executive Director Gulf Restoration Network

Michelle Diamond, Founder Hampton Roads Lights Brigade Peninsula Animal Rights Group

Dede Shelton, Director of Operations Hands Across the Sand

Margaret Cooney, Whale Campaigner International Fund for Animal Welfare

Joe Uehlein, President Labor Network for Sustainability

Alex Taurel, Deputy Legislative Director League of Conservation Voters

Mike Gravitz, Director, Policy & Legislation Marine Conservation Institute

Suzanne Thurman, Executive Director Marine Education Research and Rehab (MERR) Institute

Dr. Susan Shaw, President/Founder Marine Environmental Research Institute

Josh Tulkin, State Director Maryland Sierra Club

Neil Armingeon, Riverkeeper Matanzas Riverkeeper

Margo Pellegrino, Founder Miami2Maine

Scott J. Leonard, Director of Operations Nantucket Marine Mammals Conservation Program (NMMCP)

Anne Poole, President New Jersey Environmental Lobby

Nicole Dallara, Outreach Coordinator New Jersey Sierra Club

Geoffery Santoliquido, Founder No to Offshore Drilling in NC

Todd Miller, Executive Director North Carolina Coastal Federation

Michael Jasny, Director, Marine Mammal Protection Natural Resources Defense Council

Deborah Mans, Executive Director& Baykeeper New York/New Jersey Baykeeper

Zachary Keith, Chapter Organizer North Carolina Sierra Club

Michael Stocker, Director Ocean Conservation Research

Oriana Kalama, Chief Executive Officer Ocean Defender Hawaii

Joey Racano, Director Ocean Outfall Group

Candace Crespi, Campaign Director Oceanic Preservation Society

Howard Garrett, Director Orca Network

Peggy Oki, Project Founder & Director Origami Whales

Allie Sheffield, President PenderWatch & Conservancy

David Masur, Director PennEnvironment Charles Owens, President Peninsula Citizens for the Protection of Whales

Jodi Minion, Wildlife Biologist/Issues Manager People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)

Barbara Gottlieb, Director, Environment & Health Physicians for Social Responsibility

Cindy Parker, MD, MPH Physicians for Social Responsibility (Chesapeake Chapter)

Barbara Tillison, Coordinator Pleasure Island Sea Turtle Project

Archie Kasnet, President Regenerate

Paul Gallay, President and Hudson Riverkeeper Riverkeeper Alliance

Mary M. Hamilton, Executive Director SandyHook SeaLife Foundation

Goffinet McLaren Say No to Plastic Group

Jamie Pollack, Director of Operations Shark Angels

Athan Manuel, Director, Lands Protection Program Sierra Club

Norbert Pink, Chair Sierra Club - Great Falls Group

Rick Keller, Chair Sierra Club - Mt. Vernon Group

Jim Rynolds, Chair Sierra Club - Pisgah Group Judith Gordon, Co-Chair Sierra Club - Savannah River Group

Sam Booher, Chair Sierra Club - Savannah River Group (Augusta)

Eileen Levandoski, Assistant Director Sierra Club- Chesapeake Bay Group (Hampton Roads)

Hamilton Davis, Energy and Climate Director South Carolina Coastal Conservation League

Kurt Henning, Chapter Coordinator South Carolina Sierra Club

Chris Carnevale, Coastal Climate & Energy Coordinator Southern Alliance for Clean Energy

Sierra B. Weaver, Senior Attorney Southern Environmental Law Center

Morgan Cunningham, Founder Stop Seismic Airgun Testing Group

Pete Stauffer, Ocean Program Manager Surfrider Foundation

Clay Davidson, Chair Surfrider- Atlanta Chapter

Ethan Crouch, Chair Surfrider - Cape Fear Chapter

Ashley Harris, Chair Surfrider – Charleston Chapter

Tony Dobson, Chair Surfrider – Charlotte Chapter

Larry Moriarty, Chair Surfrider - Central Long Island Chapter Bill Poutray, Vice Chair Surfrider - Connecticut Chapter

Ed O'Connor, Chair Surfrider - Delaware Chapter

Mike Bottini and Juliana Duryea, Co-chairs Surfrider - Eastern Long Island Chapter Chapter

Erin Handy, Chair Surfrider - First Coast Chapter

Leslie Fried, Chair Surfrider - Grand Strand Chapter

Mike Daniel, Chair Surfrider - Indialantic Chapter

Christine Bell, Chair Surfrider - Jersey Shore Chapter

Chelsea Miller, Chair Surfrider - Maine Chapter

Noona Joseph, Chair Surfrider - Massachusetts Chapter

Scott Stripling, Chair Surfrider - Miami Chapter

Jamie McCallum, Chair Surfrider - New Hampshire Chapter

Nick Lynn, Chair Surfrider - New York City Chapter

Craig Sibal, Chair Surfrider - Ocean City Chapter

Ivy Ingram, Chair Surfrider - Outer Banks Chapter Krissy Halkes, Chair Surfrider - South Jersey Chapter

Sarah Damron, Southeast Region Manager Surfrider - Southeast Region

Carissa Lord, Chair Surfrider - Rhode Island Chapter

Adam Wolff, Chair Surfrider - Virginia Beach Chapter

Ryan Mahler, Chair Surfrider - Volusia/Flagler Chapter

Mike Caruso, Chair Surfrider – Washington, DC Chapter

Jennifer Cribb, Chair Surfsidians

Sharon Young, Marine Issues Field Director The Humane Society of the United States

Richard Charter, Senior Fellow, Coastal Coordination Program The Ocean Foundation

The Sustainability Leadership Center Portland State University

Jeff Pantukhoff, President & Founder The Whaleman Foundation

Teri Shore, Program Director Turtle Island Restoration Network

Glen Besa, Chapter Director Virginia Sierra Club

Adam Flood, Director Victory on the Coast

Paul Burns, Director Public Interest Research Group

Paula Reidhaar, Riverkeeper Waccamaw Riverkeeper Horry & Georgetown County

Suzanne Golas, Congregation Office Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace Director WATERSPIRIT

Marcia Hanscomb, Director WetlandActionNetwork

Regina Asmutis-Silvia, Executive Director Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society

Lyndia Storey & Lance Leonard, Founders Whale and Dolphin Watch

Laura Philon, Outreach Coordinator Wilmington in Transition

Megan Severson, Advocate Wisconsin Environment

Helen E. Fox, Ph.D., Director, Marine Science World Wildlife Fund

Stephen Fowler, Coordinator 350.org Jersey Shore group